NOTE: Formatting is a nightmare on here and I essentially have to reformat the text for each chapter, so I'm always behind on compared to AO3. Be sure to follow tessttucker there to stay up to date on this story. As of 2/21/25 we're up to chapter 16.
Fiyero was supposed to see Glinda the day after he'd been invited into the palace, but it ended up being four days later. They made excuses. She had a fitting for new dresses. She had a meeting with the Wizard himself. The third day, perhaps giving up on any creative explanation, they said Miss Glinda had simply found herself too tired for visitors.
He'd stayed for the meals they offered at each of his attempts to see Glinda. He watched movements of the guards, when they shifted and alternated, and where they stood. He listened to the walls around him, trying to hear whispers of information if he could catch them, or even a lilting soprano on some floor above him that he would recognize. Madame Morrible had joined Fiyero for the last one, making a show of how proud she was that her pupil had made such an impression and completely dismissing the topic of Elphaba, as if the sorceress had ever given Glinda so much as a "good job." As if the frigid bitch hadn't sneered lies about Elphaba across all of Oz.
On the fourth day, he received correspondence from the Uplands and returned to the palace with the oak-scented parchment in hand. The letter was respectful, but strongly suggested that the prince be permitted to see their daughter for the family's peace of mind. So Fiyero entered the dining hall a fourth time.
They seated him, and two guards remained on either side of his chair even after he was given a plate. They observed him expectantly, and he'd offered a princely smile saying "I'll just wait for Miss Glinda." And he did. He waited behind food that went cold for almost an hour before large emerald doors scraped across tile, sending an echo through the long dining hall.
With two sets of perfectly synchronized heels clacking against the floor, Madame Morrible appeared, escorting Glinda by both her delicate hand and the small of the girl's back. And perhaps Glinda needed that support, carrying a tall silver crown atop the cascading waves of golden hair, wearing a crystalline pink ballgown that looked heavier than she was.
Fiyero didn't care about any of that, though. He looked at Glinda. She was here. She was alright. They hadn't hurt her, or worse. His darkest fears washed away, lightening him, turning the gallant, princely spring in his step into a weak, stumbled rise. However, the guards at either side of him made no opening to let him pass. Fiyero looked from one to the other with a scoff, then at Morrible, with her hands on Glinda in a way that was starting to make him uneasy.
"Madame Morrible," he called down the table. It was a table that could have seated twenty on each side, yet only had places prepared at its opposite ends. "I am not normally the type of gentleman who'd leave a lady to pull her own chair. Or to leave her hand untouched after such an entrance."
"If you must, Prince Tigelaar, but nothing more. We know you're fond of our young Miss Glinda, but this isn't the Ozdust Ballroom." The sorceress shot him a knowing glare. "Things will be done in a certain way here in the palace, and you will be asked to respect it."
Fiyero stood and pressed briskly through what felt like a mile's walk towards Glinda. He didn't know how he was going to resist taking her face, touching her shoulders, making sure that she wasn't some clockwork trick of the light like the bells and whistles that went on in the Emerald City Square. It took everything in the prince not to let inertia take over when he reached her, sending him into embracing her like he wanted to. And perhaps with the assistance of a pull in the air that came with the sorceress' raised hand, Fiyero managed to stop.
Glinda looked up from under the silver crown, chin lifting slowly as if the jewels had more weight than they appeared to. Dark brown eyes met Winkie blue, and Fiyero found himself picturing the girl who had him gliding to either side of Shiz' map in the courtyard, trying to keep up with the playfully mysterious and beautiful creature who was able to meet him at his level. But this Glinda didn't wear her mystery like a prop mask on a stick she could move back and forth to tease him. This Glinda kept something back. He stayed locked on her even if there was something lost in the eyes that reflected his gaze, something behind them that he couldn't quite read, but Fiyero became peripherally aware of Morrible and the guards. They weren't watching him.
They were watching her.
He wanted to make a joke, to flirt, to give her a line that would crack the firm straightness of her lips and prove she was still there. But Fiyero couldn't shake the feeling that - under watchful gazes and tall emerald walls that seemed to have eyes of their own - this wasn't the place. Instead, he offered his hand. Glinda took it. The Prince Tigelaar dropped his head into a bow, kissing the top of cold porcelain fingers. He warmed them in between his when he straightened.
"Miss Glinda." He bowed once more with just his head.
Glinda charmingly tilted her head with a sharp inhale through her nose, as if to forcefully fill herself with a smile that never quite got there.
"Dearest."
Fiyero endured weeks of chaperoned breakfasts with Glinda. Or rather, breakfasts that included but did not in any way featured the young new ward of the palace. Most of the time, the chaperone was Madame Morrible. When it wasn't her, the blonde would have a guard on either side of her shoulder. And then there was the Monkey who never arrived with her, but always came to escort her wherever she needed to go after breakfast. Fiyero never felt like either of them could speak safely. When Morrible was there, Glinda barely spoke at all.
The prince was given a room in the castle. He was free to come and go as he pleased. He chose to stay. Fiyero tried everything he could to get Glinda alone, but they always whisked her away so fast. Just when he thought he found her room - a small one like his with silk emerald sheets and a tall stained glass window - he discovered that they'd moved her into something more suited to her newfound standing. Something on a higher floor. It took Fiyero a week to even figure out how to access higher floors than the one he was in. After the sixth, each ascension had to be found through hidden panels in the emerald wall.
Fiyero would try to follow when he saw Glinda, but would somehow lose track of her and her guardians around a corner of halls that seemed to move on their own. If he ever did catch Glinda without Morrible or servants, the Monkey was always at her heels by midday at the absolute latest. Fiyero gathered that the Animal was probably doing half the night watch with her, and returning to her when he'd gotten rest. At first, the prince couldn't be sure it was the same Monkey every time, but then he caught sight of the eyes. Two different colors.
The Monkey ended up being the key to finding her room. Fiyero had managed to uncover four ascension panels in one night, and there was a Monkey warden with one green eye and one brown eye guarding a door. It had to be Glinda's.
The next evening, he found the same door before it was sentried. Before Glinda got there to retire for the night. Fiyero eyed the halls, holding his breath as long as he could, and listened. When he was sure he could do it unspotted and unheard, he slipped into Glinda's bedroom. Then, all he had to do was hide and wait.
Brown eyes shot open in a terror so instant and raw that Fiyero immediately swallowed a stomach full of guilt, but he kept his hand over Glinda's mouth until her scream muffled to a whimper, then silenced.
"Glinda, it's me!" he whispered, nearing her face in the darkness and releasing her. "Oz, I'm sorry, Glinda, that was stupid, I didn't want to—" Fiyero nervously eyed the crack under the door, watching for shadows. The blonde shakily sat up with some of his assistance, and when he took her face in his hands, he could feel her pulse pounding at her neck. If he'd had a stomach full of guilt before, now it was pushing its way up like acid in the back of his mouth. Glinda was trembling. He immediately wrapped her in his arms. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…I shouldn't have done that…" He held Glinda tight, cradling the back of her soft hair without the hazard of that ridiculous crown in the way, overwhelmed to finally have her in his arms again and maybe even a little surprised at just how desperately he missed her. He had no idea how alone it would feel to not have her and Elphaba strolling beside him every day with their linked arms. Everything was so different and unsure now. It took her a moment, but Glinda tentatively returned the hug with weak hands at his back.
Oz, that was idiotic. He'd scared his girlfriend half to death. If that Monkey hadn't stayed until she'd fallen asleep, it wouldn't have happened this way. Fiyero parted the embrace with Glinda to kiss her. Normally, that would make her melt, but Fiyero felt her lips tense under his, her cheek turn, and her arms push him away. He opened his eyes to see Glinda removing herself from the sheets and standing, taking a consciously cordial step back. She turned on a lamp that glowed pink like the one she'd had back at Shiz. Confused, but respectful of the distance she'd uncharacteristically chosen to keep, the prince stayed seated on the bed. He watched her manner fill with a more straightened poise, but Glinda wrung her hands until her knuckles were white. Her eyes also seemed wary of the hallway light under the door.
"You shouldn't be here," she said, forcing anxious fists to her sides. A practiced smile lifted on her cheeks. Fiyero tensed at the side of his lips, his brows knotting in her direction.
Don't do that, Glinda, he found himself saying in his head, hoping it came across in his face, too. Not with me.
"We're in a palace, dearest," she continued, with performance in each word except her endearment for him, which did come out genuine. "We're being treated like royalty. Things are done in a certain way here, and," she looked at the door again, "they'd be dreadfully unhappy to find us together, unchaperoned—"
"Glinda, you're shaking." That left a crack in her mask. She forced a scoff through its repair.
"Well, what else should I be doing, Fiyero?" she hissed through hushed frustration. "Accostified in my sleep! You scared me Vinkus to Quox!"
"I said I was sorry." Momentarily forgetful of how she'd retreated and falling into old habits that used to soothe his girlfriend, Fiyero rose and reached out for her hands. Glinda flew back.
"DON'T touch me!" Her eyes darted downward and she wrapped her arms around herself with a chill, one hand on her heart as if to slow it. She forced herself to breathe. She stared at the lamp instead of him. "Just…give me a minute, Fiyero, you—"
Suddenly, with only what felt like a gust of wind at the back of his neck as a warning, Fiyero found himself tackled to the ground by uncannily long arms, pinned with sharp, coarsely stubbled blue fur.
"Chistery, stop!" Glinda cried out. Though brown sausage-like simian fingers held his face into the carpet, he saw his girlfriend attempt to pull the Monkey off him. "Stop, I'm alright! Leave him, please!"
Fiyero fought against the Monkey's grip, fearful that he may hurt Glinda, but daggers of emerald and amber eyes leaned down to peer a threat into Fiyero's face. The prince had never been one to scare easily, but it shook him to his very core.
She'd spoken with desperation before, but now Glinda lowered her voice into a stern command.
"Chistery! LET. HIM. GO. That's an order!" The Monkey spun a glare back at her. Fiyero readied his arms with leverage against the floor in case he needed to drag the Monkey down. Chistery's grasp loosened. Fiyero could throw him off if he had to. If the Monkey tried to lash out at her, too, he would. Glinda repeated herself to the Monkey, quieter now, but biting the words through her teeth. "Let him go." She closed her eyes in a breath, once again directing tension out of the fists at her sides. It reminded the prince of Elphaba, simmering that temper of hers that could manifest in floating benches and broken glass. Glinda exhaled and softened towards the Monkey. "Please."
The moment Fiyero felt the grip on his face loosen, he pushed the Monkey into the side of the bed and leapt to his feet in front of Glinda.
"Fiyero, enough!"
Chistery snapped large square teeth in the prince's direction while the blonde wove her way out from behind him. Fiyero reflexively went to pull his girlfriend back. Chistery barked out a threat, wings flapping out while legs found the ground, moving to close the distance between them again. The blonde dodged her boyfriend's grasp and instead squared Fiyero's shoulders in front of her, putting herself between him and Chistery.
"Stop trying to grab me, Fiyero," she said firmly. "He's going to protect me." She waited until her words sunk into the prince, then released him and turned to Chistery. She made a signal with her hands - a vertical flat palm coming down like a knife into the center of her other hand - then pointed him towards the door.
"NO," the Monkey grunted. Glinda exhaled.
"The wall, then."
With a resistant huff, Chistery crossed the room. He palmed the staff he'd dropped on the floor and glared at Fiyero through the darkness of the suite's east corner. Glinda finally turned back to the prince, who made no attempt to hide his hurt.
"Glinda, since when do you need protection from me?"
She searched his eyes. He tried to read hers. As if to thwart his efforts, Glinda dropped her head, shaking it slightly, reaching for the bicep of his arms.
"I don't," she whispered. Her eyes came up to his chest, but no higher. After a quick glance to Chistery and back that perhaps she thought he wouldn't clock, Glinda swept her fingers down his arms and into his hands. "I don't," she repeated. "I know I don't. I didn't mean it like that."
Glinda melted into his chest, tucking her arms under his jacket. She wrapped around him, and Fiyero held her, bowing his head into the top of her hair. Holding her felt like home, and until tonight he didn't realize how much he needed it to escape the loneliness under these tall, cold, emerald walls. He felt her small frame shiver and pulled his jacket around both of them as much as he could.
"I can stay if you want," he murmured. "I don't care what they say, but I'll be out before sunrise if I have to be." He looked down to try to catch a response, but the blonde kept herself buried to his glance in the tuck of her own chin. He leaned down near her ear in a whisper. "Though you might have to fight the Monkey for me. He's terrifying."
He smirked and crooked his head to catch a laugh out of her, but she was silent.
Fiyero rubbed the back of her silk robe. Her breathing slowed. She seemed so exhausted. He wanted to carry her to the bed and lay her down - lay with her, if she wanted - but Fiyero figured the Monkey wouldn't take too kindly to him lifting her. So the prince just made sure he was there with Glinda. He brought a hand to the side of her head at his chest, even though she didn't look up, sweeping the softness of her cheekbone with his thumb. She let out a stuttering sigh that gave him no indication of how he could help her.
"What can I do?" Fiyero found himself saying aloud. He could feel her hesitation in his arms. "Glinda, please. Tell me." He kissed the top of her hair. "What can I do?"
There was a pause. She slowly brought her hand on top of his, holding it a moment against her cheek.
"Whatever they ask, dearest." Fiyero looked down, still unable to see her face.
"What?"
With a sharp inhale - as if to wake herself, maybe - Glinda tenderly took his hand from her cheekbone and stepped back from his arms, finally meeting his eyes.
"Do what they ask," she said evenly. "Stop sneaking around. They see it, and it doesn't help either of us." Fiyero leaned in slightly, but finally learned not to close any distance she had created while her hotheaded azure bodyguard was around.
"I meant for you, Glinda."
"That is what you can do for me." Her eyes found the Monkey for just a moment - did he do one of those signals again? - then returned to the prince. "Follow the rules." Glinda dropped his hands and took a step back from him. "We can't do this."
Fiyero looked back and forth between brown eyes and the piercing blue spy in the corner. He started to put together that it was more than just the cold making her tremble.
"Is he threatening you?" He indicated the Monkey. Glinda rolled her eyes, but maybe it wasn't safe for her to admit that in front of him. Fiyero seethed at the idea that the Monkey had even so much as looked at her the same way he looked at him with those eyes, or if he'd intimidated her with those gnashing teeth. Fiyero kept his eyes on Glinda, but began crossing to the shadows.
"Chistery, isn't it? I've heard the Monkeys report to Morrible now." Then to Chistery, "You working for the sorceress? Threatening Miss Glinda to keep her in line with your fucking hand signals you think are so subtle?"
With a show of exasperation - maybe fake, to protect herself? - Glinda stepped between the two of them. Chistery's wings started to whip the air. The blonde faced Fiyero.
"It's Azuracaque sign, dearest, it's just how many of them prefer to communicate." Flying behind her and above her shoulder, Chistery thrust a fist under one arm in a "sign" Fiyero definitely understood.
Up yours.
The prince gestured a palm towards the flying Monkey and Glinda turned just in time to see what he was doing before he dropped it.
"Hey! You're not helping!" she snapped. She pointed him down to the ground, and the Monkey obeyed her. "Please, Chistery, just go watch the hall." His lips twisted with some retort that Glinda silenced with another "Please," this time circling an open palm on her chest.
Fiyero watched them. He watched Chistery bow his head to the girl, suddenly turning into almost a gentleman. All that was missing was a kiss on the hand, but he didn't touch her. It was a good thing, too, because the prince didn't know if he would have let that happen in this puffed-up boyfriend state that even Fiyero himself could acknowledge was a little much. Glinda dismissed the Monkey and closed the door behind him with an exhale that fell into the door along with her. She dropped her head slightly into the tops of her hands at the center of emerald panels, then breathed herself back into a stand. Glinda crossed back towards her bed and vanity, turning away from him.
"Fiyero, you need to stop trying to see things that aren't there. You're throwing yourself into a tizzy just trying to understand them." She sat at her vanity and began straightening up the curls that she had been pressing into his chest moments ago. "You don't understand. So maybe you should just listen to them and do what they say. They'll let us see each other more if you do. And it goes even beyond that, you know? We can make good. I'm playing my part. Why can't you play yours?"
Fiyero tried unsuccessfully to catch Glinda's eyes in the mirror.
"Play my part?"
"Doing your part - same difference."
The prince looked around the opulent suite - at the spaces where cold emerald tiles shifted into themes of candy pink. He noticed how the almost successful attempt to make the contrast work, but pink didn't go so well with green when the emerald was such a cold tone. When it was this forced. Even if the seams between the two attempted to be immaculate, it was a ruse that felt fake. He didn't like it.
"And what about Elphaba?"
That froze her. Fiyero knew it would. Glinda stopped what she was doing and turned in her chair.
"I'm working on it," she said softly.
"Yeah, well, maybe you aren't doing enough," Fiyero bit back, trying to stoke the fake indifference Glinda was trying to pull. He eyed the crown on the vanity with disdain. "You look a little comfortable here."
Glinda chewed on words that looked as if they would have been venomous, but they didn't pass her lips. Her delicate brows went through a range of emotion he couldn't read, but he had reclaimed her attention. Fiyero started to near her, to cool the energy boiling between them and try to figure this out together with her, but she turned away again.
"I don't want you here right now, Fiyero." She stoically unpinned and repinned a golden curl.
"Glinda—"
"Please go." Glinda dropped her hands daintily to the counter of the vanity and stood, intentionally avoiding him as she crossed to her bed. He made no effort to move. He watched her in profile as she stopped at the nightstand, bringing her hands together in front of her and dropping her head. The tips of her manicured fingers met the bridge of her nose. "I'm tired, Fiyero," she whispered. Glinda pressed her fingers upwards until her temples were in the palms of her splayed hands. "I'm just so tired…"
Fiyero watched her with a guilty confusion. He debated going to hold her again, but thought better of it. He looked down at on pink glow of her lamp, and slowly moved to pull the gold chain.
"Do you want me to turn thi–"
"Fiyero, I've already said what I want," she told him firmly, with only the slightest turn of her head towards him. "I want you to go."
Glinda remained still and silent until he began to step away. He moved towards the door, watching her over his shoulder as he passed, seeing her tuck into silk covers and pull them to her chin. Words failed the prince, if there were even any he could have said. He did as Glinda asked and left the room, closing the door behind the soft glow of the pink lamp she left on.